Devices for creating finely directed streams of fluids and/or creating aerosolized particles of a desired size are used in a wide range of different applications. For example, finely directed streams of ink for ink jet printers, or directed streams of solutions containing biological molecules for the preparation of microarrays. The production of monodisperse aerosols is also important for (1) aerosolized delivery of drugs to obtain deep even flow of the aerosolized particles into the lungs of patients; (2) aerosolizing fuel for delivery in internal combustion engines to obtain rapid, even dispersion of any type of fuel in the combustion chamber; or (3) the formation of uniform sized particles which themselves have a wide range of uses including (a) making chocolate, which requires fine particles of a given size to obtain the desired texture or "mouth feel" in the resulting product, (b) making pharmaceutical products for timed release of drugs or to mask flavors and (c) making small inert particles which are used as standards in tests or as a substrate onto which compounds to be tested, reacted or assayed are coated.
Although there is a need for creating finely directed streams of fluids and for creating small spherical particles which are substantially uniform in size current methods suffer from a number of disadvantages. The invention described and disclosed herein is based on new discoveries in the field of physics which make it possible to overcome disadvantages of prior art devices and methods in an energy efficient manner.